leprechaun
Americannoun
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leprechauns
plural
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a dwarf or sprite.
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a conventionalized literary representation of this figure as a little old man who will reveal the location of a hidden crock of gold to anyone who catches him.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of leprechaun
1595–1605; < Irish leipreachán, lucharachán, MIr luchrapán, lupra ( c ) cán, metathesized forms of Old Irish lúchorp ( án ), equivalent to lú- small + corp body (< Latin corpus ) + -án diminutive suffix
Explanation
A leprechaun is a character in Irish folklore, a small fairy or sprite who wears green and has a sly sense of humor. A leprechaun is typically described as a short old man with a beard, usually wearing a green coat and hat. In Celtic or Irish mythology, leprechauns are shoemakers who store gold coins at the ends of rainbows and love practical jokes. The root of the word leprechaun is the Irish leipreachán, which comes from the Old Irish luchorpan, literally "a very small body."
Vocabulary lists containing leprechaun
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A Mythical Menagerie
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Example Sentences
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See Examples For:
There’s probably a little leprechaun one for St. Patrick’s Day.
From Slate ● May 30, 2024
Maybe he was the lucky leprechaun I let slip away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
The ends of the rainbows touched down in the rolling fields below me, no place green enough to hide a leprechaun but a fair swap for living with rattlers.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2022
A clock still hung on the wall, but most everything else lay in tatters on the sodden grass: a flower pot, socks, a festive tinsel leprechaun.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
Colin kicked his legs to the side with each step, like a heel-clicking leprechaun, trying to discourage the blood-thirsty hornets from attacking his legs.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
Speaking of trillion-dollar leprechauns, you will hunt through all 545 pages in vain for those big “DOGE” savings you were promised.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
It is easy-breezy, light spirited — rainbows, leprechauns, good luck, good cheer — it is childlike in its commitment to being pure fun.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2024
Three years later came Crock of Gold, with its album cover featuring a painting by Shane MacGowan of leprechauns that resembled the demons that seemed to haunt him throughout his life.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2023
Dinklage has used his platform to fight Hollywood depictions of dwarfs as leprechauns or elves, and he’s pushed back against society’s tendency to highlight “the cutesiness of little people.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2022
Instead of dancing, they launched themselves across the field and began throwing what seemed to be handfuls of fire at the leprechauns.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
